Save a list of objects in a binary file

Questions & Answers
1

[System.Serializable]
public class GameData
{
public List Namestring;
``}

How do I add an item to the list save it in a file and read it
Like if I have a static class with the name save

Go write

Public legname;

save.loadfile (); Reads in the file
legname = save.Namestring [0];

I can save single variables but I can’t save arrary or lists.
Can you help me with an example of a script that saves to file and then reads?
Thank you so much

2

Basically what you want to do is generally referred to as [Serialization][1] (for saving the runtime object data [to a file, or while transferring over the network, or otherwise]) and Deserialization (for loading the data back into runtime objects).

There are many methods to do so, and many formats, each with its own pros and cons (and some [dangers][2]). [Some][3] [benchmarks][4] and [comparisons][5].

Unity has added support for [JSON Serialization][6], and C# has built-in

[7] and [Binary][8] serialization, though I wouldn't recommend using the XmlSerializer since it's slow.



You can find many examples on the web for serialization/deserialization with unity, like [this][9] or [here][10].



As a quick practical example, you could implement the following utility script:

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.IO;
    using UnityEngine;

    public static class SerializationUtility
    {
    	public static void Save(object data, string filePath)
    	{
    		using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(filePath))
    		{
    			// this will convert the object instance to a JSON document: the value and name of each field will be written to the file
    			// more about JSON here: https://www.json.org/json-en.html
    			string serializedObject = JsonUtility.ToJson(data);
    
    			// this will actually write the JSON string into a file on the disk
    			writer.Write(serializedObject);
    		}
    	}
    
    	public T Load<T>(string filePath)
    	{
    		using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(filePath))
    		{
    			// this will simply read the contents of the file from the disk into a string
    			string jsonContent = reader.ReadToEnd();
    			
    			// this will convert the JSON file back into the object: each field will be populated with the saved value according to its name
    			T deserializedData = JsonUtility.FromJson<T>(jsonContent);
    
    			// return the newly created object, or you can simply feed the values back into this instance
    			return deserializedData;
    		}
    	}
    }

Or read **[this thread][11]** for more in-depth insights and more robust solutions.


  [1]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/concepts/serialization/
  [2]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/serialization/binaryformatter-security-guide
  [3]: https://mkhndrsn.wordpress.com/2013/11/26/comparison-of-methods-of-serialization-in-c/
  [4]: https://stackoverflow.com/a/22782692/618726
  [5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_data-serialization_formats
  [6]: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/JSONSerialization.html
  [7]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.xml.serialization.xmlserializer?view=net-6.0
  [8]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/serialization/binary-serialization
  [9]: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/binary-serialization-unity-samuel-arminana/
  [10]: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/introduction-to-unity-serialization-and-game-data
  [11]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36239705/serialize-and-deserialize-json-and-json-array-in-unity